Reviews

I was fortunate to see this moving, ambitious play at its Melbourne premiere performance at Theatre Works in July 2021. The next day, lockdown bit, theatres were closed, and the rest of the season was cancelled.  Now it returns with exactly the same fine cast, director, designers, and set – an achievement in itself.  Seeing the play a second time, I have little reason to amend my review.

Gabriel Utterson is a lawyer drawn into a mystery of horrific brutality from an unknown man known as Mr Hyde, that is inextricably wrapped up with his old friends, particularly the well-regarded Doctor Henry Jekyll. Even if you haven’t read the original Robert Louis Stevenson story, it’s likely you’re familiar with the concept – and I wish I didn’t know the story, because the twists of this clever adaptation would have hit home even harder.

This first of three instalments of The Grief Trilogy sets a sombre and intense tone for these plays. These are dark themes which are treated with unapologetic directness and honesty. The expectation is, therefore, that the experience will not be easy. The production, in fact, depicts some very difficult and raw emotions. Some moments in the play will test the audience and their willingness, or even their ability, to ponder the recesses of the mind.

Performed in Belarusian with English surtitles and based on the novel by Alhierd Bacharevič, banned in Belarus, Dogs of Europe is particularly befitting on more than one level. Whilst dystopian works are very much the ‘flavour’ of the moment, the chilling realisation that Dogs of Europe underlines is that much of what is portrayed is not of the future, but is already here.